School Nixes Mural Showing Traditional Family

16 Apr School Nixes Mural Showing Traditional Family

Who’d have thought that a student artist portraying the traditional family in a school mural would be controversial? But that was what 17-year-old Liz Bierendy was confronted with as she painted a wall mural showing the life progression of a boy to a man. Liz concluded her mural of a lifecycle with a depiction of the boy as a married man with a wife and a child – a family.

But that was too much for the Pilgrim High School assistant principal there in Warwick, Rhode Island, so he asked that the family portrayal be painted over and that Liz “look at other ways to show the outcome of the subject’s progression to adulthood.” According to a school district press release, the traditional family part of the mural was painted over because “some of the members of the Pilgrim High School community suggested that the depiction of a young man’s development from boyhood through adulthood as displayed may not represent the life experiences of many of the students at Pilgrim High School.”

This is a disturbing story on many levels:

1) Political correctness has consumed a community to the degree that something as simple as a family in a school mural can cause “offense” that then creates a knee-jerk reaction on the part of a school administrator.

2) We can no longer as a culture identify what a life progression for a male should actually look like. Is it any wonder that so many males are adrift in today’s society?

3) The traditional family is so controversial that we no longer viewed it as the “norm” let alone the ideal for adults. A strong, vibrant nuclear family is no longer a goal and “may not represent the life experiences of many of the students at Pilgrim High School.”

In the case of Liz Bierendy, the District Superintendent has stepped into the controversy and allowed Liz artistic license to make the decision as to how her mural should end.

But I am left with the words of anthropologist Joseph Daniel Unwin ringing in my ears. Dr. Unwin, who after studying 87 ancient cultures, concluded: “In human records, there is no instance of a civilization retaining its energy after a complete new generation which does not insist on prenuptial and postnuptial continence.” Those civilizations that went from no sexual regulation to strict regulation of sexual activity advanced proportionately, while those that went from strict regulation to complete abandonment of sexual mores collapsed within about three generations.

Tags:

2 Comments

Meagan

Kind of makes you wonder how many years we have left before some kind of growing traditional family-oriented society will take dominance (does the Middle-East or Latin America come to mind) …did this start 45 years ago, or 10? I heard a comment about this story, the person mentioned that if it represented another culture or ethnicity it wouldn’t have been debated. I agree with their theory, the school probably doesn’t have an issue with a “different life experience,” their issue is with trying to bolster and celebrate new ideas in America (whether that thinking is good or detrimental). I’m grateful that there are family organizations like UFI trying to fight for what is right, thank you.

Outside of religion and family organizations, helping the family grow and be secure doesn’t even seem to fly on the radar with politics anymore. Yes our nation is dangerously unstable, but on many more levels than many people anticipate. I’m so grateful when somebody stands up and makes it a priority…it doesn’t always need to be through a pricey program, protections and autonomy for faith and family decisions are very much appreciated. Personally, those types of people get my vote when both people are decent.

I think the school is so false –It’s like trying to make children believe in a falsehood like Santa Claus-by trying to tell them they came from 2 women.!! Children are not stupid & will learn the truth eventually but they do not need this confusion growing up.
The mother had to cross over to that horrible male side to get an egg to have a baby in the first place.